The Ångström-Prescott Regression Coefficients for Six Climatic Zones in South Africa - Preprints.org

Page created by Marcus Williams
 
CONTINUE READING
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 Article

 The Ångström-Prescott Regression Coefficients for
 Six Climatic Zones in South Africa
 Brighton Mabasa1,2*, Meena D. Lysko2,3, Henerica Tazvinga1, Sophie T. Mulaudzi4, Nosipho
 Zwane1, Sabata J. Moloi2
 1 Research & Development Division, South African Weather Service, Pretoria 0001, South Africa;
 brighton.mabasa@weathersa.co.za (B.M); Henerica.Tazvinga@weathersa.co.za (H.T);
 Nosipho.Zwane@weathersa.co.za (N.Z)
 2 University of South Africa, UNISA Preller Street, Muckleneuk, Pretoria 0001; South Africa;

 moloisj@unisa.ac.za (S.J.M)
 3 Move Beyond Consulting (Pty) Ltd, Pretoria 0001, South Africa; mlysko@gmail.com (M.D.L)

 4 Department of Physics, Thohoyandou, Limpopo Department of Physics, University of Venda,

 Thohoyandou 0950, South Africa; Sophie.Mulaudzi@univen.ac.za (S.T.M)
 * Correspondence: brighton.mabasa@weathersa.co.za; Tel.: +27-12-367 6088 (B.M.)

 Abstract: The South African Weather Service (SAWS) manages an in-situ solar irradiance
 radiometric network of 13 stations and a very dense sunshine recording network; located in all six
 macro-climate zones of South Africa. A sparsely distributed radiometric network and over a
 landscape with dynamic climate and weather shifts is inadequate for solar energy studies and
 applications. Therefore, there is a need to develop mathematical models to estimate solar irradiation
 for a multitude of diverse climates. In this study, the annual regression coefficients, a and b, of the
 Å ngström-Prescott (AP) model that can be used to estimate global horizontal irradiance from
 observed sunshine hours were calibrated and validated with observed station data. The AP
 regression coefficients were calibrated and validated for each of the six macro-climate zones of
 South Africa using the observation data that spans 2013 to 2019.

 The predictive effectiveness of the calibrated AP model coefficients was evaluated by comparing
 estimated and observed daily global horizontal irradiance. The maximum annual relative Mean Bias
 Error (rMBE) was 0.371 %, relative Mean Absolute Error (rMAE) was 0.745 %, relative Root Mean
 Square Error (rRMSE) was 0.910 % and the worst-case correlation coefficient (R2) was 0.910. The
 statistical validation metrics results show that there is a strong correlation and linear relation
 between observed and estimated solar radiation values. The AP model coefficients calculated in this
 study can be used with quantitative confidence in estimating daily GHI data at locations in South
 Africa where the daily observation sunshine duration data is available.

 Keywords: South African Weather Services; radiometric network; climatic zone; Angström-Prescott;
 Global Horizontal Irradiance; sunshine duration.

 1. Introduction
 Solar radiation data is important because it is required in many research fields such as
 meteorology, agriculture, hydrology, ecology and environment [1, 2, 3, 4]. Solar radiation data is also
 an important reference for many applications such as solar power plants, engineering designs,
 regional crop growth modelling, evapotranspiration estimation and irrigation system development
 [1, 3, 5]. In relation to this, South African Weather Services (SAWS) re-established a global horizontal
 irradiance (GHI) radiometric network with 13 solar radiometric stations located in all 6 macro
 climatic zones of South Africa [6]. The data collected from SAWS network help in the validation of
 satellites as well as the development and verification of empirical models [7]. SAWS also manage a

 © 2020 by the author(s). Distributed under a Creative Commons CC BY license.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 2 of 11

 very dense sunshine duration recording network over South Africa to the extent that sunshine
 duration data has been continuously measured for several years [8]. SAWS GHI stations are sparse,
 according to [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9]. Having dense radiometric networks is a worldwide challenge because of
 the high costs involved in the installation and maintenance of the solar radiation stations. To
 compensate for this, reliable measurements taken from a sparse network are needed to develop and
 validate empirical models that can be used to estimate and forecast the availability of solar energy at
 other locations [10]. The main objective of this study is to calibrate the Å ngström-Prescott (AP) model
 regression coefficients a and b that could be used to estimate GHI in different climatic zones of South
 Africa, thus increasing the density of available solar radiation data in the country.

 The AP model estimates daily GHI using daily extra-terrestrial (Top of the Atmosphere) GHI
 radiation ( ), daily astronomical day length (N), daily measured sunshine duration (n) and
 Angström model coefficients a and b. The model was first proposed by Angström [11] in 1924 before
 Prescott [12] modified it in 1940 by adding to replace GHI on a clear sky day. The original AP
 coefficients were a=0.25 and b=0.75 these were calculated using data from Stockholm [13]. The
 regression coefficients a and b are site dependent, therefore there is a need to calibrate them using a
 linear relationship in equation (1) at regions where they will be used to estimate GHI [1, 4, 13].
 Researchers such as those from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Academy of
 Agricultural Research Management, the Brazilian Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte and
 Spanish Polytechnic University of Madrid [1-5] calibrated AP coefficients to their own climatic
 regions by using the linear relationship in equation (1). According to works by three different
 research groups [1, 2, 14] sunshine-based models provided better GHI estimates when compared to
 cloud and temperature-based models.

 In South Africa studies to calibrate AP coefficients were carried out by Eberhard [15] and
 Mulaudzi et al. [16]. The challenge, according to Mulaudzi et al. [16] was the unavailability of a long-
 term observation GHI data set that covers all the climatic regions to calibrate and validate the AP
 coefficients. In this study a large enough data set with observations spanning 2013 to 2019 from
 stations that covers all the climatological zones of South Africa was used to calibrate the AP
 coefficients which were then used to estimate GHI. The estimated GHI was validated using the
 observed GHI daily averages, while the statistical metrics (10) to (16) from [17, 18] were used to
 quantify the differences between observed and estimated GHI.

 The results from this study, annual AP coefficients a and b in all six macro-climatological regions
 could be used to estimate daily GHI using daily observation sunshine duration data. The knowledge
 of estimated daily GHI data, can thereby be used to develop energy policies and solar energy
 programmes. They can also be used as benchmarks in climate analysis studies.

 2. Materials and Methods
 The observed 1-minute GHI data used in the study was collected from 8 SAWS solar radiometric
 stations during the periods shown in Table 1; which also shows the geographical locations and the
 climatic zones in which the stations are located. GHI data was collected using secondary standard,
 CMP11, Kipp & Zonen pyranometers.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 3 of 11

 Table 1. SAWS radiometric station location, altitude, period covered and climatic zones.

 Station Latitude Longitude Altitude Period Climatic zone
 (°) (°) (m)
 Upington -28.48 21.12 848 2014-02-01 to 2019-11-30 Arid Interior
 De Aar -30.67 23.99 1284 2014-05-01 to 2019-12-31 Cold Interior
 Irene -25.91 28.21 1524 2014-03-01 to 2019-12-31 Temperature Interior
 Mthatha -31.55 28.67 744 2014-07-01 to 2019-12-31 Subtropical Coastal
 George -34.01 22.38 192 2015-01-01 to 2019-12-31 Temperature Coastal
 Durban -29.61 31.11 91 2015-03-01 to 2019-12-31 Subtropical Coastal
 Polokwane -23.86 29.45 1233 2015-03-01 to 2019-12-31 Temperature Interior
 Thohoyandou -23.08 30.38 619 2015-03-01 to 2017-10-31 Hot Interior

 Daily GHI data was calculated from 1-minute GHI data. First, the 1-minute GHI data was quality
 controlled using a Baseline Solar Radiation Network (BSRN) quality control (QC) procedure outlined
 by Long and Dutton in [19]. GHI values that failed the QC test were regarded as outliers and were
 discarded, only the data that passed test was used [6, 7, 20-22]. Minute values that passed the BSRN
 QC were averaged to 15 minutes and then 4 slots of 15-minute averages were averaged to get an
 hourly mean [6, 7, 20-23]. Hourly mean values were then averaged to get daily average values. Daily
 average values were further quality checked by subjecting them to HelioClim model QC , described
 by Geiger et al in [24], outliers, which were daily average points coded 1 were discarded before
 further analysis.

 Hourly sunshine duration data was obtained by determining the burn made by the sun on a
 coated card in a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder [8]. Hourly data was then summed to get total
 daily sunshine duration (n). Daily top-of-atmosphere (TOA) irradiance (GHITOA) and theoretical
 sunshine duration (N) were calculated using equations (1) to (9), from Iqbal [13], and the solar angles
 were calculated using the Solar Position Algorithm (SPA) on Python PVLIB [25, 26] and Microsoft
 Excel. The coefficients a and b of the AP model were calculated by using the linear regression analysis
 
 between the irradiance fraction or clearness index , and daily sunshine fraction, for each
 
 day, based on a linear relationship shown by equation (1) proposed by Angström [11] and then
 modified by Prescott [12].
 
 = + ( / ), (1)
 
 where is the daily Global Horizontal Irradiance in W/m2
 is approximation of the top of the atmosphere GHI or extra-terrestrial radiation on a
 horizontal surface i.e., the amount of global horizontal radiation that a location on Earth’s surface
 would receive if there was no atmosphere and it is given it is given by equation (2) , as in Duffie and
 Beckman [27].
 24
 = ( ) I E [(π/180) ∙ ω ∙ (sinδ sin∅) + (cosδ cos∅ sinω ), (2)
 π

 I = solar constant = 1367 W/m2 , (World Meteorological Organization
 recommendation, according to Gueymard in [28]), (3)
 2πD
 E = eccentricity factor = 1 + 0.033cos [( )], (4)
 365

 where D is the Julian day,
 ω = sunset hour angle = cos −1 (−tan ∅ tan δ), (5)
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 4 of 11

 ∅ = degree of latitude, (6)
 360( +284)
 δ = solar declination = −23.45sin [ ], (7)
 365
 2
 N= cos −1 (−tan ∅ tan δ) = Astronomical sunshine duration, (8)
 15

 n = daily recorded sunshine duration (in hours), (9)
 where a, b represents Å ngström-Prescott regression coefficients.
 Annual AP coefficients were calculated for 8 stations. The observation periods for concurrent
 GHI and sunshine duration data for these stations are given in Table 1. Datasets up to the end of 2018
 were used for the determination of the AP coefficients, and the daily observation data for 2019 was
 used to validate the corresponding estimated daily GHI data. For Thohoyandou, the 2017 data was
 used to validate the coefficients.

 The statistical metrics that were used to compare estimated daily GHI data with the observed
 daily GHI data were derived from literature [17, 18] and these are:

 1. Mean Bias Error (MBE) which estimates the average error in the prediction. A positive MBE
 indicates that the prediction is overestimated and vice versa and the lower values of MBE
 indicates a strong correlation between the prediction and observation. A relative Mean Bias
 Error (rMBE) which measures the size of the error in percentage terms was also calculated.
 The metrices are expressed as:

 1
 MBE = ∑ni=1(Pi − Oi) (10)
 n

 1 (Pi−Oi)
 rMBE = 100 ∗ ∑ni=1 (11)
 n i

 2. Mean Absolute Error (MAE) which measures the absolute value of the differences between
 the observed and the predicted values, it gives a better idea of the prediction accuracy,
 relative Mean Absolute Error (rMAE), which measures the size of the error in percentage
 terms was also calculated. The caution with MBE and rMBE is with cancelling of positive and
 negative bias which can lead to a false interpretation. The metrics are expressed as:

 1
 = ∑ =1| − | (12)
 
 1 | − |
 = 100 ∗ ∑ (13)
 =1 

 3. Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) which compares the predicted and observed data sets, it
 measures the statistical variability of the prediction accuracy, is expressed as shown in
 equation (14), while equation (15) shows the relative Root Mean Square Error (rRMSE) which
 measures the size error in percentage terms. The RMSE and rRMSE are also indifferent to the
 direction of the error. They are considered in this study since these put extra weight on large
 errors. The metrices are expressed as:

 1
 = √ ∑ =1( − )2 (14)
 
 100 1
 = ̅̅̅
 ∗ √ ∑ =1( − )2 (15)
 
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 5 of 11

 4. Coefficient of Determination (R2) which is a statistical measure of the strength of the
 relationship between the movement of predicted and observed. R 2 also measures how well
 the regression line represents the data. The value of R2 is such that 0 ≤ 2 ≤ 1. The closer R2
 is to 1, the better the prediction. The metric is expressed as:
 n
 ∑i=1 ( − )2
 R2 = 1 − n
 ̅̅̅)2
 (16)
 ∑i=1(Pi− 

 where is the observation value, is the estimated value, is average of the observation values,
 i is the time point and n is the total number of points used.

 The results were converted from W/m2 to MJm-2d-1 by dividing by 11.57415; a methodology
 used by Almorox et al. [5] to allow for easy comparison with other literature studies. Monthly
 averages of each metric were calculated and then aggregated to annual averages, and where
 observation data was not available data was replaced by NaN. The annual AP coefficients a and b
 coefficients were calculated.

 3. Results and Discussions

 3.1 Annual AP results
 In this study, the annual AP regression coefficients a and b were calculated using equation (1)
 and the following variables: daily n, daily mean GHI, daily mean and daily N were used as
 inputs. The calculated a and b were then used together with daily n and N to estimate daily GHI,
 which was then compared to corresponding observed daily GHI. Statistical metrics in equations (10)
 to (16) were used to quantify the errors between the two datasets; the results are shown in Table 2
 and Figures 1 to 4.

 In Figures 1 and 2, the annual AP coefficients and the data points that were used to derive
 them are displayed. The values of the AP coefficients ranged from 0.188 to 0.243 for a while those for
 b ranged from 0.515 to 0.6. Values of a=0.25 and b=0.5 were recommended by Allen et al. [29] to be
 used when there is no local observation GHI data to calibrate the coefficients. The minimum value of
 a in this study was less than 0.25 maximum value was greater than 0.25, the minimum and maximum
 values of b were greater than 0.5. The difference in default AP coefficients and calibrated AP
 coefficients proved that calibrating the coefficients locally is a necessity

 Studies done by Zhang et al., De Medeiros et al., Almorox et al. and Tsung et al. in [3-5, 14] also
 found different results to Allen et al. [29] when they did a local calibration. The AP coefficients from
 this study are in line with the coefficients from similar studies done elsewhere in the
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 6 of 11

 Figure 1. Regression lines and AP coefficients for Upington station (top left), De Aar top right, George (bottom
 left) and Thohoyandou (bottom right)

 When comparing the factors for stations that are located in the same climatological zone such as
 Irene and Polokwane located in the Temperature Interior climatic zone, and Mthatha and Durban in
 the Tropical Coastal climatic zone (Table 1), the difference was less than 0.05 for both a and b which
 is a very small difference. This means that the AP coefficients a and b, calibrated for a climatic zone
 could be used as a representative for an entire climatic zone to estimate GHI when observed sunshine
 duration data for the location is available.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 7 of 11

 Figure 2. Regression lines and AP coefficients for Mthatha station (top left), Durban station (top right), Irene
 station (bottom left) and Polokwane (bottom right).

 3.2 Validation Results

 Estimated GHI values were compared to the measured GHI values; errors were quantified by
 validation metrics in equations 10 to 16 and the results were tabulated in Table 2. It can be seen that
 in Table 2, that the rMBE ranged from -1.20 to 0.371 %, rMAE from 0.311 to 0.745 %, rRMSE from
 0.393 to 0.910 % and R2 from 0.910 to 0.948. De Aar, Irene and Thohoyandou had a positive MBE
 meaning that the model overestimated GHI while Upington, Durban, Mthatha, George and
 Polokwane had a negative MBE meaning that the model underestimated GHI values at these
 locations. The values of MBE and rMBE for all the stations were less than 1 indicating that there was
 a strong correlation between the predicted and observed GHI values. The worst case R 2 value was
 0.910 suggesting that there is a very strong linear relation between observed and predicted values.

 Table 2. Calibration coefficients a and b and validation metrics results in (MJm-2d-1).

 Station a b RMBE rMBE MAE rMAE RMSE rRMSE R2
 (%) (%) (%)
 Upington 0.243 0.549 -0.360 -0.120 0.841 0.311 1.061 0.393 0.930
 De Aar 0.191 0.600 0.733 0.371 1.136 0.506 1.375 0.598 0.930
 Irene 0.224 0.546 0.689 0.353 1.328 0.608 1.618 0.729 0.912
 Mthatha 0.210 0.562 -0.104 -0.013 1.168 0.582 1.474 0.735 0.915
 George 0.215 0.560 -0.270 -0.036 1.261 0.636 1.520 0.769 0.948
 Durban 0.207 0.540 -0.322 -0.106 1.425 0.745 1.741 0.910 0.915
 Polokwane 0.243 0.515 -0.286 -0.085 1.272 0.488 1.572 0.606 0.910
 Thohoyandou 0.188 0.571 0.286 0.168 1.071 0.550 1.433 0.746 0.937
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 8 of 11

 Maximum RMSE of 1.741 MJm-2d-1 was less than 1.850, 1.94 and 1.9 MJm-2d-1 that Almorox et al.
 [5], De Medeiros et al. [4] and Tsung et al. [14], respectively, determined. Maximum MAE of 1.425
 MJm-2d-1 was less than 1.8 MJm-2d-1 that Tsung et al. [14] determined. Maximum MBE of 0.733 MJm-
 2d-1 was less than 1.040 and 0.85 MJm-2d-1 that De Medeiros et al [4] and Tsung et al. [14], respectively,

 determined and the worst case R2 of 0.910 was greater than 0.875, 0.74 and 0.8 that Zhang et al. [3],
 Adamala et al. [2] and De Medeiros et al. [4], respectively, determined. The overall validation results
 from this study are comparable and even better than what was found in similar studies like [2, 3, 4,
 5, 14] which concluded that the AP coefficients could be used to estimate GHI with confidence based
 on those validation results. The data used in the study was collected using secondary standard
 pyranometers (CMP11), which according to Urraca et al. [21] generate high quality records of GHI.
 GHI data was subjected to robust quality control methodologies BSRN QC [19] and HelioClim model
 QC [24] before any analysis and outliers were discarded. The use of Python codes in data analysis
 enabled big data to be handled much more efficient, execution of a code in data analysis resulted in
 correct and consistent outputs, these some of the reasons why the results in this study are better. This
 means that the AP coefficients results from this study could also be used with confidence to estimate
 GHI in different climatological zones of South Africa.

 Figure 3. Comparison between measured and predicted monthly GHI values in De Aar (top left), Upington (top
 right), George (bottom left) and Thohoyandou (bottom right).

 In Figure 3, 2019 monthly GHI observed data was compared to corresponding estimated 2019
 monthly GHI data. Thohoyandou is the only station where validation was done using 2017 monthly
 data sets and the observation data was only available from February to October (January, November
 and December 2017 data sets were not available). The need to fill in missing data further motivates
 for this study i.e., development and validation of models, and results of this study can be used to fill
 any missing monthly mean GHI values for South African locations.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 9 of 11

 Similarly, in Figure 4, the 2019 monthly GHI observed data was compared to corresponding
 estimated 2019 monthly GHI data. In Durban GHI observation data for September was not available.
 In Polokwane the GHI observation data for March, April, May and June was not available. Results
 from the study can be used to fill those missing monthly mean GHI values.

 Figure 4. Comparison between measured and predicted GHI values in Mthatha (top left), Durban (top right),
 Irene (bottom left) and Polokwane (bottom right)

 5. Conclusions
 The annual Å ngström-Prescott coefficients a and b were calculated using the linear
 relationship between ratio of the daily radiation on a horizontal surface to the daily extraterrestrial
 radiation on that surface, and the ratio of the daily sunshine duration to the theoretical sunshine
 duration were used to estimate global horizontal irradiance and there was a very close agreement
 with the corresponding observation global horizontal irradiance , the agreement was quantified by
 statistical metrics in equations (10) to (16), i.e. relative Mean Bias Error, relative Mean Absolute Error,
 relative Root Mean Square Error and correlation coefficient (R2). The results were in good agreement
 with what other studies found. The Å ngström-Prescott coefficients calibrated for each station can be
 used as a representative for the climatic zone where that station is located. The Å ngström-Prescott
 coefficients calculated in this study could enable the estimation of daily global horizontal irradiance
 data at any location in South Africa where the daily observation sunshine duration data is available.
 The knowledge of estimated daily global horizontal irradiance data can thereby be used to support
 energy policies and solar energy programmes. It can also be used as benchmarking in climate analysis
 studies. The methodology used in the study can be applied elsewhere, where there is a station that
 records global horizontal irradiance and sunshine duration.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 10 of 11

 Author Contributions: Conceptualization, B.M, M.D.L. and S.T.M.; methodology, B.M and M.D.L.; software,
 B.M.; validation, M.D.L and S.T,M.; formal analysis, B.M.; investigation, B.M.; data curation, B.M.; writing—
 original draft preparation, B.M.; supervision, H.T, M.D.L. and S.J.M.; writing—review and editing, H.T, M.D.L,
 S.J.M, N.Z and S.T.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

 Acknowledgments: The author thanks the South African Weather Services (SAWS) for providing the Global
 Horizontal Irradiance (GHI) data and sunshine duration data used in the study.

 Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest

 References
 1. Tang, W.; Yang, K.; He, J.; Qin, J. Quality control and estimation of global solar radiation in China. Sol.
 Energy. 2010, 84(3), 466-475. [ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2010.01.006]
 2. Adamala, S.; Reddy, Y.K. Evaluation of Different Solar Radiation Estimation Methods for Indian Locations.
 Water Resour and Environ Engineering II. Springer, Singapore, 2019. 47-56.
 [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-981-13-2038-5#page=56]
 3. Zhang, Q.; Cui, N.; Feng, Y.; Jia, Y.; Li, Z.; Gong, D. Comparative Analysis of Global Solar Radiation Models
 in Different Regions of China. Adv. Meteorol. 2018, 11, 1-21.
 [https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA576377822&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkacces
 s=abs&issn=16879309&p=AONE&sw=w]
 4. De Medeiros, F.J.; Santos, E.S, Bezerra, B.G. Calibration of Å ngström-Prescott equation to estimate daily
 solar radiation on Rio Grande do Norte State. Revista Brasileira de Meteorol. 2017, 32(3), 409-61.
 [https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-77863230008]
 5. Almorox, J.; Benito, M.; Hontoria, C. Estimation of monthly Angström–Prescott equation coefficients from
 measured daily data in Toledo, Spain. Renew. Energy.2005, 30(6), 931-936.
 [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2004.08.002]
 6. Mabasa, M. B.; Botai, J.; Ntsangwane, M. L. Update on the Re-Establishment of the South African Weather
 Services (SAWS) Radiometric Network in All Six Climatological Regions and the Quality of the Data. South
 African Solar Energy Conference (SASEC), Blue Waters Hotel, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa,2018.
 [https://www.sasec.org.za/full_papers/68.pdf]
 7. Mabasa, B.; Tazvinga, H.; Zwane, N.; Botai, J.; Ntsangwane, L. Assessment of Global Horizontal Irradiance
 in South Africa. South African Solar Energy Conference (SASEC), Mpekweni Beach Resort, Eastern Cape
 Province, South Africa, 2019. [https://www.sasec.org.za/papers2019/47.pdf]
 8. Singh, J.; Kruger, A. Is the summer season losing potential for solar energy applications in South Africa? J.
 Energy in Southern Africa, 2017, 28(2), 52-60. [http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2413-3051/2017/v28i2a1673 ]
 9. Wilbert, S.; Stoffel, T.; Myers, D.; Wilcox, S.; Habte, A.; Vignola, F.; Wood, J.; and Pomares, L.M. “Measuring
 Solar Radiation and Relevant Atmospheric Parameters” in Best Practices Handbook for the Collection and
 Use of Solar Resource Data for Solar Energy Applications, Golden, CO, USA, National Renew. Energy. Lab,
 2017. [https://hal-mines-paristech.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01184753].
 10. Garg, H.P.; Garg, S.N. Measurement of solar radiation—II. calibration and standardization. Renew. Energy.
 1993, 3(4), 335-348. [http://eprint.iitd.ac.in/bitstream/handle/2074/2266/gargmeas93.pdf?]
 11. Angstrom, A. Solar and terrestrial radiation. Report to the international commission for solar research on
 actinometric investigations of solar and atmospheric radiation. Quarterly Journal of the Roy. Meteorol.
 Soc,1924, 50(210), 121-126. [https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.49705021008]
 12. Prescott, J. A. Evaporation from a water surface in relation to solar radiation. Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Aust.,1940,
 46, 114-118. [https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/10025613338/ ]
 13. Iqbal, M. An Introduction to Solar Radiation; Academic Press: Toronto, ON, Canada, 1983.
 14. Tsung, K.Y.; Tan, R.; Ii, G.Y. Estimating the global solar radiation in Putrajaya using the Angstrom-Prescott
 model. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Env. Sci,2019, 268, 012056.
 [https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/268/1/012056/meta]
 15. Eberhard, A. A. A solar radiation data handbook for Southern Africa. Elan Press: Cape Town, South Africa, 1990.
 16. Mulaudzi, S. T.; Sankaran, V.; Lysko, M. D. Solar radiation analysis and regression coefficients for the
 Vhembe Region, Limpopo Province, South Africa. J. Energy in Southern Africa, 2013,24(3), 02-07.
 [http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?pid=S1021-447X2013000300001&script=sci_arttext&tlng=es].
 17. Maupin, K. A.; Swiler, L. P.; Porter, N. W. Validation metrics for deterministic and probabilistic data. J.
 Verification, Validation and Uncertainty Quantification, 2018, 3(3). 20.
Preprints (www.preprints.org) | NOT PEER-REVIEWED | Posted: 2 August 2020 doi:10.20944/preprints202008.0038.v1

 11 of 11

 [https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4042443]
 18. Paulescu, M.; Stefu, N.; Calinoiu, D.; Paulescu, E.; Pop, N.; Boata, R.; Mares, O. Å ngström–Prescott equation:
 Physical basis, empirical models and sensitivity analysis. Renew. Sustain. Energy. Rev, 2016, 62, 495-506.
 [ https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2016.04.012]
 19. Long, C.N.; Dutton, E.G. BSRN Global Network Recommended QC Tests, V2. 2010. Available online:
 https://epic.awi.de/30083/1/BSRN_recommended_QC_tests_V2.pdf (accessed on 11 December 2019).
 20. Thomas, C.; Wey, E.; Blanc, P.; Wald, L. Validation of three satellite-derived databases of surface solar
 radiation using measurements performed at 42 stations in Brazil. Adv. Sci. Res. 2016, 13, 81–86.
 [https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA481823064&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkacces
 s=abs&issn=19920628&p=AONE&sw=w]
 21. Urraca, R.; Gracia-Amillo, A.M.; Huld, T.; Martinez-de-Pison, F.J.; Trentmann, J.; Lindfors, A.V.; Riihelä,
 A.; Sanz-Garcia, A. Quality control of global solar radiation data with satellite-based products. Sol. Energy
 2017, 158, 49–62. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2017.09.032]
 22. Riihelä, A.; Kallio, V.; Devraj, S.; Sharma, A.; Lindfors, A.V. Validation of the SARAH-E Satellite-Based
 Surface Solar Radiation Estimates over India. Remote Sens. 2018, 10, 392. [https://doi.org/10.3390/rs10030392
 23. Roesch, A.; Wild, M.; Ohmura, A.; Dutton, E.G.; Long, C.N.; Zhang, T. Assessment of BSRN radiation
 records for the computation of monthly means. Atmos. Meas. Tech. 2011, 4, 339–354.
 [https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-4-339-2011]
 24. Geiger, M.; Diabaté, L.; Ménard, L.; Wald, L. A web service for controlling the quality of measurements of
 global solar irradiation. Sol. Energy. 2002, 73, 475–480. [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-092X(02)00121-4]
 25. Holmgren, W.F.; Hansen, C.W.; Mikofski, M.A. pvlib python: A python package for modeling solar energy
 systems. J. Open Sour. Softw. 2018, 3, 884. [https://joss.theoj.org/papers/10.21105/joss.00884]
 26. Reda, I.; Andreas, A. Solar position algorithm for solar radiation applications. Sol. Energy, 2014, 76(5), 577-
 589. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2003.12.003]
 27. Duffie, J.A.; Beckman, W.A. Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: USA, 1980; pp.
 6-13,22.
 28. Gueymard, C.A. The Sun’s Total and Spectral Irradiance for Solar Energy Applications and Solar Radiation
 Models, Sol.Energy.2004, 76, pp. 423-453. [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2003.08.039]
 29. Allen, R.G.; Pereira, L.S.; Raes, D.; Smith, M. Crop Evapotranspiration-Guidelines for Computing Crop
 Requirements-Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56; FAO: Rome, Italy, 1998; Volume 300, p. D05109.
 [https://appgeodb.nancy.inra.fr/biljou/pdf/Allen_FAO1998.pdf].
You can also read